September 2025

Sarah Price’s Garden Designs have been described as “painterly” and while her design aesthetic is layers of detail, and gentle successions of plants that provide year-round interest, I can’t help but think that she is a Gardener at heart. With an eye towards grouping plants together that perform in specific conditions, and actually walking the walk in her own Garden, I’m convinced that creating spaces for plants to thrive in the right habitat is key to success. Specifically gravel, or dry bed Gardens. If you have rocky areas that provide great drainage but not a lot of nutrition in the way of rich soils, check out this article on putting together an easy to copy naturalistic planting scheme.  I’m inspired to try some of these out myself in a little gravel bed we have near the courtyard, where I have been racking my brain to sort out what to do.

If you had plants really struggling in this Summer’s heat, and looking for plants that will sail through July and August looking fresh as a daisy, consider Drought Tolerant Plants for next year’s Garden, and add these to your list.

Forget the regional recommendations, and consider these top plants for clay soil by region. I’d add Verbascum, Achillea and Alchemilla to the list, as all 3 have thrived in our clay soils at Laughing Goat. It’s always the plants that spread readily and easily that teach us the greatest lessons.

It seems everyone is getting behind Helenium these days, as right after I shared about them in the August newsletter they are still shining in September, as this article on cheery, sun-loving, go-with-everything flowers that brighten up late summer will attest to. I know I’m on to something when I start to see it over and over, and if you don’t have Helenium, and don’t know, give them a go. Digging Dog Nursery has a proper selection of plants, and we have planted both ‘Moerheim Beauty’ and ‘Waltraut’ with great success and much beauty.

Speaking of summer blooms that hold up well, these mostly biennial flowers are cottage garden favorites, and we just love them against a wall, or something to support them. Tall, statuesque, bee-magnets, and generous givers of seed Malvas or Mallow, there's one for every garden may have you thinking twice. We’ve got a small selection of seed available in our Garden Shop, and I’m working to collect more colors (there’s a double apricot variety that is swoon worthy), but I do love the addition of the so dark purple it’s almost black, and fuchsia color varieties we have available. They add so much color and life to the Garden. I’ll have Steve update our website to add our current seed collection.

You may be admiring some Gardens for their ability to hold on to color and life through August, and if yours feels sadly lacking, please bookmark Summer borders: top 10 plants for late colour and do make sure that while you can see your Garden NOW, you make a plan for where you can pop these in for next year. You can buy marking flags at any local hardware store, or online, and I’d recommend writing the name of the plant on the flag, then sticking it in the soil where you want to place the plant. This is how I keep track of bare spots in our Gardens, and those flags are a constant reminder that I need to order, plant, and get those areas filled in. It’s a bit of an eyesore until you get the plants in, but I promise, seeing those areas filled in with plants is so satisfying after seeing bare soil, and it’s worth putting up with a flag for a short period of time. Just trust me.

Dahlias will forever hold a spot in my Summer Garden, and if you think it’s too early to be thinking about ordering Dahlias, let me convince you otherwise! While I don’t recommend waiting until Autumn to plant your Dahlia tubers, you can definitely make your Autumn beds shine with Nicholas Dahlia which just happens to be available at Swan Island Dahlias a great, local-ish source of healthy, disease-free dahlias and through September 28th they have 10% off all orders as part of their Annual Dahlia Festival. I always say that the best time to order plants is when you see them blooming, so don’t delay in planning for next season! It’s a great time to look at your borders and beds, and note any places where it lacks color, and you’ve got room to tuck in a dahlia or 2. Maybe a plant needs to be moved and will leave a gap…dahlia?

Since we are getting close to the time in the Garden where I will remind you, over and over, to leave the leaves, maybe it’s time to reconsider how we look at, and coexist with what we have been trained to think of as “pests”. In Sworn enemies no more: we should ban the word "pest" and give garden critters a rebrand, the author encourages us to rethink how we interact with, talk about, and ultimately manage what we may consider pests. While you may see a pest, I see food for the myriad of bird populations that fly into, and live on our property. I see an opportunity to learn what the environment is trying to tell me, and where my ecosystem is perhaps struggling. It encourages me to continue to look at my Garden as a whole, rather than individual parts and plants, and I hope we can collectively shift our “battle” with what we consider pests.

Lastly, if you have space to plant what was once called a “Moon Garden” or even just add plants that shine once the sun goes down, consider the magic of a night garden and how to plant one so that you can truly enjoy your Garden once you sit down to enjoy, cocktail or tea in hand. There is something truly enchanting about plants that light up the landscape after the day is done.